Readers Guide to the FY2010 Proposed Budget

The Purpose of Sections

This budget document is intended to be accessible to readers with significant, little, or no experience with municipal finance. Presented in six distinct sections, this budget document will provide both general and specific data, from philosophical discourse on the nature of the fiscal partnership between branches of government, to line-by-line department spending requests for items such as office supplies and gasoline.

The Sections

The sections include:

• Section 1: The Town Manager's Budget Message is found in Section 1 and contains the overall philosophy upon which the budget was developed, and provides an explanation of the budget process, and any significant changes to the budget as compared to previous years. This section also covers the budget highlights and provides a summary of the balanced budget proposal.
• Section 2: The Revenue Summary is found in Section 2. This section identifies the sources of revenue to meet the proposed operational, miscellaneous, and capital expenses for the coming year. The section also provides the reader with an overview of historical and proposed revenue, including the assumptions used to develop the estimates.
• Section 3: This section contains the Department Descriptions for the General Fund, Enterprise Funds, and Community Preservation Fund. These are descriptions identifying the general purpose of each department and include a history of past year expenditures, the current year budget, and the recommended balanced budget.
• Section 4: This section contains actual Departmental Budget Submissions for General Fund, Enterprise Funds, and the Community Preservation Fund.
• Section 5: This section contains the Executive Summary of the FY2010 to 2014 Capital Improvement Plan, published as a separate document on January 6, 2009.
• Section 6: A Glossary of Terms that may prove useful in reviewing this budget is included in Section 6.